Sasuke & the Uchiha Clan: An Analysis
Chapter 3
Pressure to Excel
Being of the last of his clan since age 7 put Sasuke under immense pressure, pressure that the kid couldn't handle well. If Sasuke had been born into a lesser-known clan that no one cared about, such as the Kurama or Kamizuru or Iburi clans (bet you forgot about them) or the Kaguya and Yuki clans (remember them?), it wouldn't be such a big deal or a particularly great pressure to represent the clan. But Sasuke isn't from a nobody clan no one knows; he's from the internationally known and highly prestigious, elite, powerful Uchiha clan, the strongest clan the shinobi world had ever known apart from the Senju clan (which apparently had faded into obscurity and perhaps near-extinction by the time of Sasuke’s era, seeing how Tsunade is the only present-day Senju who appears in the story, and even she is an older survivor of her clan with no children).
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It's not like everyone ignores this Uchiha survivor - Sasuke was in the world's spotlight from genin age, seeing as how obsessed everyone was with him in the chunnin exams. Most of the attendees for the final rounds of the chunnin exams didn’t care so much about the Hyuga, Aburame, or Nara clan participants, or even the Kazekage’s children (who were essentially Sand royalty). Nope, the major person of interest was the last surviving Uchiha, an exotic and rare object of entertaining interest to the populace. The Naruto series pointedly emphasizes the Uchiha’s fame via how excited the chunnin’s exam audience is to see Sasuke perform.
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In an act of nepotism, Hiruzen even extends the wait-time duration for Sasuke Uchiha to arrive (even though Sasuke should have been rightfully and fairly disqualified), knowing that the crowd all came to see the up-and-coming Uchiha. Sasuke was the grand finale everyone was waiting for, which is why Sasuke’s duel was the only match Hiruzen couldn’t cancel without creating an uproar of outrage from the audience.
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The Uchiha clan, known by all, are renowned among the five great nations. No doubt these weighty expectations, rising to an international level, placed immense pressure on Sasuke’s shoulders, worsened by the fact that Sasuke came from a background with a collectivist mindset. His clan is not just people who happen to be the same race as him, but his precious nakama, his comrades. After the massacre, Sasuke found himself the clan’s sole representative. He had to first rise above his big brother in reputation to prove that the Uchiha weren’t just villainous scum, and furthermore, Sasuke had to retain the clan’s image. Everything he does reflects upon his deceased brethren and his family, and Sasuke is fully aware of the expectations that accompany the fan-shaped crest he wears proudly upon his back. How could he not know the pressures of being Uchiha, when his status as Uchiha is thrown in his face every five seconds?
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Rather than consider Sasuke as his own individual, people instead reinforced the gap between Sasuke and everyone else because of his Uchiha affiliation. Successes or failures were not measured by Sasuke the Person, but measured in comparison to his Uchiha status.
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Sasuke succeeds? Attribute that to his superior genes and prestigious clan affiliation.
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Sasuke fails? Mock his clan’s status as undeserved and/or insult Sasuke as a failure and disgrace to his clan’s name.
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With everyone distinguishing Sasuke the Uchiha from non-Uchiha, it would be difficult for Sasuke to not differentiate between Uchiha versus non-Uchiha as well. That’s the world that Sasuke lived and grew up in. No clan is more praised and hyped and renowned than the Uchiha clan in the Naruto-verse, at least not during the era when the story of Naruto takes place.
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If the Uchiha were not so greatly differentiated from everyone else, perhaps the Uchiha members themselves wouldn’t perceive such a large gap between themselves and everyone else either. But they are, and that is a societal gap created through social perception of the Uchiha clan, psychologically affecting both non-Uchiha and the Uchiha. It would affect the Uchiha clan mindset, as they are the targets of such fame, which would be intimidating to be constantly expected to live up to, and probably also fed the egos of the Uchiha members in not-so-healthy ways.
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Sasuke fell under such pressure, exponentially multiplied when he became the only Uchiha left for everyone to focus on, thrusting the introverted Sasuke into the spotlight at a very young age, regardless of what he wanted. Seeing as how Sasuke’s dream was the unexceptional vision of serving side-by-side alongside his clanmates on the police force instead of rising to a prominent position at the top, I’d surmise that Sasuke would rather not be noticed or stand out. But no one asked Sasuke his preferences in social status, so Sasuke was thrown the mantle of sole clan representative at age seven, whether he wanted it or not.
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Compare this treatment to someone like Naruto: the insults start and begin with Naruto Uzumaki. Naruto's failures are attributed to Naruto Uzumaki alone, and Naruto’s successes are attributed to Naruto Uzumaki alone. Naruto’s failures and achievements start and end with himself.
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That doesn’t hold true for Sasuke, whether it be within the Uchiha cultural mindset or without it. Sasuke maintains a collectivist mentality bond to his clanmates, which everyone else outside the clan further reinforces. Whether Sasuke succeeds with flying colors or spectacularly fails, that will always reflect upon his clanmates.
During tree-climbing training, Kakashi doesn’t just insult Sasuke, he drags the clan name into it. “Maybe you’re a disappointment to your clan,” is essentially what the gray-haired teacher tells Sasuke. It’s an insulting jab at Sasuke’s worthiness to belong to his clan, questioning whether Sasuke is really worthy to belong to such a prestigious bloodline (ironically just as Kakashi questioned whether his friend Obito Uchiha deserved to be affiliated with such a prestigious clan, showing that Kakashi has learned nothing since his childhood). In so doing, Kakashi reinforces this idea that Sasuke isn’t innately worthy of being an Uchiha, that being an Uchiha isn’t just about a bloodline, it’s a trophy that you have to earn and win, and evidently Kakashi doesn’t think Sasuke has yet worked hard enough to earn it.
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Seeing as how Sasuke viewed his Uchiha clanmates as his nakama, this would be a hurtful question of his worthiness that everyone repeatedly brings to his attention: is Sasuke really qualified to count himself among the ranks of his prestigious and esteemed clan, the people he views as nakama? Or is he the failure, the odd one out, the one so unworthy of being Uchiha that he was deemed so pathetic as to not even be worth killing? These type of questions haunted Sasuke’s mind, forcing him to question his worth constantly. To make it worse, these type of comments at times came from people Sasuke respected or otherwise was supposed to respect. Kakashi was Sasuke’s sensei, the closest thing he had to parental guidance after the massacre. Yet Kakashi reinforces the unhealthy ideology that Sasuke will always be measured against his clan. Whether that be to his clan’s benefit or detriment all depends on Sasuke’s ability to perform exceptionally and conduct himself well. That’s a large amount of social pressure for a 12-year old, seeing how famous the Uchiha clan was around the shinobi world.
Fugaku and Itachi also added to this detrimental effect on Sasuke’s psyche, as their actions and their words to the young and sensitive Sasuke resulted in long-term damaging effects that unhealthily pressured young Sasuke to uphold the clan’s reputation.
Another negative reinforcer occurred when Lee challenged Sasuke in the chunnin exams. Rock Lee declared he wants to prove himself by defeating Sasuke the Uchiha. Sasuke the Individual doesn’t mean anything, it is only Sasuke the Uchiha that matters.
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Bloodline prestige is what gets Sasuke recognition and attention. While some might view that as a positive, it is in many ways also a negative. Yes, Sasuke takes great pride in his clan’s prestige and on one hand it’s likely a great moral booster to Sasuke to hail from such a powerful clan with special abilities. After all, what an honor and privilege, to belong to the earth’s strongest clan, right?
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On the other hand, Sasuke is born into the misfortune of the famed: typically people only care about you for your status and prestige and don’t care about the actual you. Despite Rock Lee being a representative of the underdogs, even Lee ironically upholds the cultural tendency to only care about the famous and prestigious, seeing as how Rock Lee ignores Naruto’s challenge (since Naruto is a nobody and who cares about that? Evidently even the underdog Rock Lee doesn’t). Instead, Rock Lee is only interested and fixated on the prestigious. Of course, one can only prove themselves by beating the best, so Rock Lee’s fixation on Sasuke is natural, but you’d still think Rock Lee might be a bit more interested and empathetic to the “lesser” shinobi around him, the ones struggling to get by.
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Likewise, Orochimaru and Kabuto wanted a piece of the Uchiha action, seeing as how Orochimaru coveted Itachi’s and Sasuke’s bodies, whereas Kabuto was jealous of the Uchiha’s clan affiliation and belongingness that came with affiliation to one’s bloodline clan.
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Sasuke barely says a word to Deidera and doesn’t mention a thing about the Uchiha clan, yet Deidera already was all in a tizzy over Sasuke looking at him the wrong way, complaining without provocation about how Sasuke is no better than anyone else, and if Sasuke is better, than it’s only because of Sasuke’s luck in winning “Uchiha” in the gene lottery. Deidera asserts that all Sasuke’s successes and powers are only because he is a member of the Uchiha clan. Ironically by doing so, Deidera only reinforces the concept that the Uchiha are superior to everyone else, better than the common man. In reality, Deidera’s words are more of a reflection of Deidera’s personal insecurities than Sasuke having an arrogant or elitist worldview.
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It isn’t just Sasuke who is reinforcing the Uchiha clan’s superiority – it is everyone around Sasuke, constantly reminding Sasuke how his clan is better than everyone else’s and how Sasuke must meet that standard as well. Whether it comes across as well-meaning and from a friendly source, or whether it comes in the form of hostile verbal abuse from an enemy, the underlying message is the same: You are an Uchiha and we expect a certain standard from you. If that standard is not met, we will scorn and mock you or insult your deceased beloved ones.
No wonder that resulted in certain behavioral patterns in the way Sasuke conducted himself. Everything he does is under scrutiny and it doesn’t only reflect Sasuke himself, it impacts the reputation of his entire clan. There are no longer other living Uchiha specimens for everyone else to watch, observe, and measure their power, so the lack of a measurable group means that all eyes turn to Sasuke. That’s a lot of pressure for a kid. It’s not surprising that Sasuke becomes aware of these opinions, and even starts to believe them. At the very least Sasuke would believe that he’d have to maintain and uphold his clan’s prestige via his own personal performance.
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After all, it would be a sad commentary of the once-great Uchiha clan if the entire populace of the clan fizzled out to two members: one a traitorous criminal, and the other an embarrassingly powerless failure who was a disgrace to his clan name. Sasuke’s and Itachi’s reputations reflect the boarder Uchiha reputation, and their actions pool into the Uchiha clan’s reputation as a whole, whether they like it or not. Someone who had never encountered an Uchiha before the massacre might walk away from the impression that the Uchiha weren’t as great as the stories told after encountering Itachi and Sasuke, and that wasn’t something Sasuke could bear to see.
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The feats and achievements that his ancestors, comrades, and family had accomplished stood at risk because of him, who could bring their achievements into doubt because of his own pathetic performance and failings. Naruto Uzumaki even proves this, telling Sasuke that maybe the Uchiha clan was only over-hyped and their prestige was merely a myth – proving that the upcoming generation, who had never known the Uchiha firsthand, might come to believe that the Uchiha clan’s reputation was only a farce, and the only power the Uchiha had on their side was the power of legends and folktales and fairy tales, not actual substantial feats (might be a good time to mention that the historians in the Naruto-verse suck or are otherwise completely nonexistent, seeing as how the children of Konoha didn’t even have a clue who the village’s founders were even though Konoha was only about 100 years old by the time Naruto begins). The Uchiha clan’s reputation was at stake and in peril, all because Sasuke and Itachi both stood as liabilities to the Uchiha clan’s name. Itachi made it appear as if the Uchiha were no more than back-stabbing traitors, while Sasuke risked making it appear as if the Uchiha were incompetent, weak failures. Already the memory of Sasuke’s prestigious people was fading away from the shinobi world, and Sasuke was the only one capable of making sure that the memory of his people could live on with a positive imagery of their power and competency.
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Anyway, the hype and reputation of the Uchiha clan doesn’t come much from Sasuke himself, it comes from the cast around him griping or praising or gushing or groaning about how insanely powerful, elite, praiseworthy, and prestigious Sasuke’s clan is. Sasuke himself doesn’t mention the power of his clan all that many times, and he doesn’t spend that much time posturing about how amazing his clan was, despite the head-canons fans concocted to depict an arrogantly Uchiha-obsessed-Sasuke. Yes, Sasuke is obsessed with his clan, but not in the impersonal I-only-care-about-my-clan’s-power way that fans suppose, more in the way of someone strongly connected to their people group.
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This is an important aspect of Sasuke’s character to note because it is yet another factor playing into Sasuke’s desperation to grow strong and to gain power, and it plays a role in why he chooses to abandon Naruto and Sakura in pursuit of power.